Good evening. It is good to be with you again, College Hill. I thank you to Pastor Titus, Pastor Dean, and the elders for the opportunity to stand in this holy place and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, amen? Amen. Our text today is found in Luke, the gospel according to Luke, chapter 8. Beginning at the B part of verse 42, Luke 8 tells us about the life of a woman who found faith in Jesus after all else failed her. Hear the word of the Lord. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years. Though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. And immediately, her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, someone touched me. For I perceive that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, daughter, Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away. Will you pray with me? Lord, we come needing to hear your voice and to know that you are the one true God, the one true Savior in this world that fails us over and over again. Give me power to preach. Give your people power to hear and receive your word. For people to come to faith at the proclamation of your good news. So we pray in Christ's name, amen. Faith when all else fails you. Any of you got any secrets? Maybe the people on this front row. Secrets that you haven't told anyone else. Secrets that you haven't shared with your friends and your family members. Secrets that you tried to handle without the word getting out, but everything you did, everything you tried did not remedy your problem. Anybody got any secrets? Secrets that cause you to suffer. Secrets that cause you to hang your head in shame. Secrets that you do not want to tell anyone else. Don't tell me your secrets this afternoon. The word of God provides us with the story of a woman who has held a secret for 12 years in her life. And God has allowed her secret from the first century to come all the way down to the 21st century so that we might see how God can heal the most shameful secrets in our lives. This woman has had an issue of intimate bleeding for 12 years. This issue of blood, as the text calls it, has isolated her from everyone. It's almost as if she is in a world by herself. The only people she could possibly share her secrets with is other unclean people. See, for in her society, in her religious culture, she is an unclean woman. She can't go to the synagogue. She can't be within community. Actually, she should not be in the crowd surrounding Jesus. She's unclean. She is not telling her secret to anyone around her, and after she has spent all her money on physicians that have promised remedies that did not cure her, she has one last hope. She has one last opportunity to find healing for her deepest, darkest secret. She's in the crowd. She grasped hold of the fringe of Jesus' garment. And in that moment, the power of God flows from Christ, who is both God and man, and heals this woman's secret and gives her a new lease on life. Because she has found healing for her greatest problem at the feet of Jesus. My brothers and sisters, this woman's story teaches us that we can trust in Jesus. We can put our faith in Jesus when all else in this world fails us. I don't know about you, one day I wasn't sitting around saying, yeah, I've lived enough and I've done enough and I've fought enough and I figured it out, I need Jesus. No, I have had secrets in my own life that have brought me to the end of my rope, brought me to the place where I would throw in the towel. But God in his grace and mercy allowed me a moment like this, a moment to hear the grace of God through the salvation of Jesus. And it is there at the feet of Jesus, at the proclamation of his good news of salvation for even my secrets in life. that I found that there is a one who can give healing and salvation for my deepest need. Three things I'd like to lift to you about how to have faith in Jesus when all else fails you. Number one, you've got to plug in to Jesus' power through faith. Number two, you've got to proclaim Jesus' power publicly. And number three, you must receive Jesus' acceptance and peace. Number one, you must plug into Jesus' power through faith. The woman is surrounded by people. She is in a crowd, and she is dealing with this deep need, this deep need to be healed from this issue of blood. And as she sees Jesus walking, she grabs hold to his garment, and she receives his healing in her body. She's tried a bunch of other things that have left her depleted and empty in life. But as she sees Jesus, I'm sure she has heard of his teaching. I'm sure she's heard of his great power in her area. And she comes and finds him, and she is in the midst of a crowd of people touching him. She grabs hold of Jesus' garment. and finds that she is immediately healed from the issue that has plagued her for the last 12 years. My friends, she has faith in Jesus and it allows her to tap in the power of God to heal her greatest problem in life. If you've traveled overseas, what you have found at times is that the plug at the end of your electrical appliance does not always fit the outlet or the socket in the wall once you've gone out into a foreign country. is because in foreign countries they have a different electrical system than we have here in America. And so they may have a four prong plug where we have a two prong. Or a three prong where you might have a three prong and they only have a two prong. And what you have found is that you cannot get power to charge your electrical shaver or your hair dryer because you have the wrong plug for the wrong plug. socket which will not allow you to connect to the power source. Often in life, we think that our work will help solve the deepest problems in our lives. If I just work harder, I can accomplish and solve this great issue in my life. Often, some of us think if we just had more money and resources, if I earn more, if I get more opportunity, I'll really be able to address the greatest problems in my life. Others of us think if we just had more community, more of a network, more people around us to help us get what we need done in life, that we would have what we need to solve our greatest problem. But you know what I found? Work is the wrong plug to give me power to address the greatest issues of my life. People fail me when I try to use people to solve the greatest problems in my life. And money, there's just never enough of it. I never could find enough and get enough opportunity to deal with the deepest problem of my life, because they are the wrong plug to connect to God's power. You see, the only one who can address the deepest, darkest secrets and cleanse the greatest problems in our life is Jesus. And we cannot tap into God's power unless we have faith in Jesus. Jesus unlocks the power of God for the deepest and greatest issues in our life. Simply put, Faith is the plug, Jesus is the outlet, and he is God in the flesh, so he's connected to divine power. And when you have faith in Jesus, it unleashes the power of God to heal, like in this woman's life, the deepest and greatest problems in her life. She had tried everything else. She had tried physicians, she had tried remedies, but none of it healed her issue of blood until she came in contact with Jesus. Would you have the power of God to heal the deepest secret in your life? You must trust in Jesus with faith if you will receive divine power to heal your broken heart. See, in this woman's life, her issue of blood was the greatest problem. But in our lives, in all human beings' lives, our greatest problem is our sin that brings separation in our relationship with God, our Creator, and our Savior. And it is only through Jesus Christ and faith in His sinless life His death on the cross to receive the punishments of God for our sins, and His victorious resurrection over death that can give us the power of God to solve the separation from God that sin has brought into our lives. If we will have healing from our secrets in life that bring shame and brokenness and separation from God and in any other area in life, we must tap into the power of Jesus through faith in his finished work. Secondly, the text teaches us that we must proclaim Jesus' power publicly. I don't know about you, but it's kind of natural just to tell when something good happens to me to share it with somebody else. At least my friends and my family. I share good stuff that happens to me with my family, my wife, my children, my mother, my father, my best friends. But now we share the good things that happen to us with the whole world. If you get married, those pictures are going up while you're at the wedding on Facebook. If you have a child, those pictures are on Instagram an hour after mama gives delivery to the baby. And if you're like me, I'm going to be on Periscope when I graduate from RPTS in a couple weeks. As I get my diploma, I'm going to be live telling everybody what's going on. Because we share our good news with the world when something good is happening to us. But when we have to call the name of Jesus, often people become silent about the good things that He has done. You've got to get security clearance to get the good news, to get the scoop about how God has touched your life through Jesus. But that is not what happens in the text. Jesus is walking, and His power has gone out from Him because the woman has touched Him with faith. And he asked his disciples as they are walking, after the woman touched him, who touched me? Who touched me? Peter, a little confused, says, Lord, there's crowds of people all around you. Simply put, everybody's touching you. Jesus says it again, who touched me? And it is as if my mind rewinds to the garden after man has fallen in sin. God comes after Adam has transgressed the law of God and the commands of God. And he says, Adam, where are you? And it's not because God does not know where Adam is that he asks, where are you? It is to show Adam where Adam has fallen in relationship to God. I would like to suggest that when Jesus Christ, who touched me, he is revealing, calling the woman to come out and show herself so that she might know where she is in relationship to the Savior. She might know that the one who can heal the deepest need of her life and every need in her life has noticed her. and has responded to her deepest need. So Jesus says, who touched me? When the woman realizes that she could hide no more, she comes out and tells Jesus everything that happened in that powerful moment. And Jesus, and she proclaims publicly, what Jesus has done for her. She proclaims publicly the power of God that has touched her life. If you will gain access to the power of God, to the healing of God, to the forgiveness of God, to the grace of God for all your shameful secrets, you must respond to Him in faith and reach out to Him, trusting that Jesus is enough to heal you of your deepest need. But you must not stay silent. You must find someone to share that truth with. Jesus tells us in other texts that if we are afraid or ashamed to own him before men, he will be ashamed to acknowledge us before his Father in heaven. If Jesus has touched you with his grace through his cross and through his resurrection, if he has made you a child of God and forgiving your sins, if he has healed you from all of the shame and the bad mistakes that you have made because of your sin and separation from him, you should not keep it a secret, but you should proclaim it to the world that I have encountered the power of God and he has healed my life and he has transformed me from the inside out. Number one, you must plug in to God's power through faith. You must proclaim God, Jesus' power publicly. But thirdly and finally, I believe this text teaches us that we must receive Jesus' acceptance and peace that he gives as we respond to him in faith. Please look with me at verse 48. The woman has grasped Jesus' garment. She has been healed of her disease. Jesus has asked who touched me and she has proclaimed the healing power of Jesus on her behalf. Then in verse 48 it says, and he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. This woman has lived a life Relationally depleted because she was unclean. She was separate from her community. She has had to live a life physically depleted because she has had an issue of blood for 12 years. She has lived a life financially depleted because she's given her all that she had to physicians and their remedies. She has lived a life spiritually depleted because in her day, with her condition, she was barred from coming to church. It is to this woman that Jesus cries, daughter, go in peace. If you think about it, my friends, because of this sickness, this woman's life has been pure chaos. She has not experienced peace at all over the last 12 years. But because she has, in faith, responded to the power of Jesus to heal her at her deepest need, Jesus proclaims peace over her life. this woman who has been depleted and has run from here and there trying to find solutions to her problem, Jesus proclaims, your life will be governed by peace with God and the peace of God. You will no longer be in separation from me and you will receive my protection and my peace as you go forward. Because he called her daughter, a word of endearment. Daughter, a word of protection. Daughter, a word of comfort, a word of care. I have three boys, and I pick them up from their childcare, and I'm run out of the building with them pretty much the same way every day. And there's an old lady who goes to the church around the corner from the church we worship at, and she says, Reverend, you got three boys. She's about 90 years old. I said, yeah, Mom, I got three boys. She says, oh, they're beautiful, but you need that girl. Daddy's gotta have that girl. Shit, I think my husband stopped loving me once we had our daughter. Because fathers love their daughters. Jesus calls this woman daughter. Establishing relationship with her and promising that his peace that has healed her will be the peace that sovereignly guides her life. through the rest of her journey. There was a young boy who had been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He had even suffered abuse. And when he finally was adopted, he could never quite settle in for some years that these people who he was supposed to call mom and dad would really be with him for the rest of his life. So he gave them problems. And he never trusted their love, never trusted their care. Until after years of consistent love, one day when his father called him son, it was like a light snapped on. The spark clicked and he realized that this was not just a title that was given, a business transaction that gave this man authority, but this man loved him, this man cared for him, this man would be with him for the rest of his days. This one who had no peace in his life, this one who had no loving father, found out that he was a beloved son. My friends, this is this woman's story. Her life was defined by chaos, and Christ caused her daughter and promises her peace because of her faith in him. After all else has failed her, she has found new life through faith in Jesus Christ. This story is all of our story. We were separated from God. We were lost in our sin. and we tried everything that this world has to offer to feel the brokenness and the pain and the emptiness that was at the foundation of our deepest needs in life. Christ calls to us. He has called to some of us years ago, and he calls to some of us in this very moment. Son, daughter, Put your faith and trust in me and see that I am a Savior that cannot fail you. After all else has let you down, after all else has failed, find healing, love, and peace through faith in Jesus Christ and the salvation that he brings for all who will trust in him. I urge you today, my friends, don't go another day searching in the wilderness of this world for another Savior. For there is none but Christ the Lord. Amen. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your love. We thank you that you see us, even in the secrets that we hold. We ask you, God, to open our eyes that we might see you, and to give us the grace to reach out in faith and trust you to heal us at the deepest place of need, to forgive us of sin. Through faith in your finished work, of the cross and the resurrection from the dead, so that we might live our lives in your peace and in your protection and in relationship with you as sons and daughters. This is our prayer in Christ's name, amen.